Friday, April 7, 2017

Captain Fantastic (2016) [R] ****

A film
review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net on July 28, 2016.

Bucking
the summer movie empty spectacle approach, Captain
Fantastic is about something. Despite the title, which might stir images of
a superhero story, this is a human drama about the bonds that hold and sever
families and the conflict between two very different philosophies surrounding
how to raise children in today’s world. Matt
Ross’ screenplay occasionally stumbles (especially late in the proceedings)
and the ending opts for a too-facile resolution but the director/writer offers
moments of genuine power and pathos that make it easy to forgive the missteps.

Ben (Viggo Mortensen) has taken a
back-to-nature lifestyle to an extreme. He and his wife, Leslie (Trin Miller), have moved to an isolated
Pacific Northwest homestead to raise their six children: Bodevan (George MacKay), Kielyr (Samantha Isler), Vespyr (Annalise Basso), Rellian (Nicholas Hamilton), Zaja (Shree Crooks), and Nai (Charlie Shotwell). When Leslie is
admitted to a hospital for treatment, the task of raising the children falls on
Ben’s shoulders. The daily regimen includes not only the intensive studying of
literature, mathematics, science, and history but a full diet of physically
taxing activities and chores. When Leslie takes her own life, Ben is faced with
the difficulty of re-entering society (if only temporarily) with his children
to attend the funeral. There, he encounters well-meaning relatives (Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn) who view his parenting choices with skepticism, and
Leslie’s wealthy and influential father, Jack (Frank Langella), who is determined to take his grandchildren away
from their father.

Although Captain Fantastic sides with Ben’s
parenting techniques from an emotional perspective, Ross’s script shows the
pros and cons of his approach as contrasted with the more conventional
philosophy espoused by Jack. For most of the film, it remains an open question
whether the children - bright, independent, articulate, and socially awkward -
are better served by being separated from society or whether they would benefit
from being integrated. The film’s resolution is too pat and pushes aside the
idea that the back-to-nature style might not only be detrimental to the
children’s social and emotional well-being but could be physically damaging as
well.

Captain Fantastic’s most potent scenes focus on how the
family copes with Leslie’s death. Although we see her only in flashbacks, her
importance to everything is evident and the hole left by her departure is
profound. This is most clearly shown by the reactions of the two youngest
children (played perfectly by Shree Crooks and Charlie Shotwell), who have
trouble coping with the thought of never seeing their mother again. The need
for closure forces Ben to re-enter society and, although this leads to a few
quasi-humorous fish-out-of-water scenarios (including Bo’s first kiss), there
are also some painful situations. Jack, although presented as an antagonist, is
effectively humanized. He is motivated not by malice but by a genuine belief
that Ben is dangerous and deranged.

The
performances are strong across-the-board, with all of the child actors
providing fully realized interpretations of their characters. Kathryn Hahn and
Steve Zahn, better known for comedy, are effective in small (but important)
roles. Frank Langella, as always, captivates with a ferocious portrayal. Viggo
Mortensen, so far distanced from his career-defining role as Aragorn in Peter
Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy,
displays tremendous range as the film’s foundation; his scenes with Langella
are riveting. He also provides some (admittedly gratuitous) full frontal
nudity.

Captain Fantastic stands as a testimony to the
difficulty of raising children in an unconventional way, especially when the
fabric of the family is torn asunder by grief and the inevitable need for
independence exhibited by the older offspring. Although the film contains
enough comedy to prevent it from becoming maudlin, this is primarily a dramatic
story and its most potent and memorable scenes are aspects of the central
conflict - a refreshing change-of-pace in one of Hollywood’s most emotionally
inert years in recent memory. [Berardinelli’s rating: *** out of 4 stars]